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Prelude to Judgment
Ruined Village(#8816Rnt) - Nebulos A Nebulon village. Obviously once a happy place, the small houses and streets have since fallen into disrepair. Scorched trees surround the place, with tank tracks sunk into the ground. Some attempt has been made to decorate the village, with faded banners everywhere, and a broken, scarred may pole in the green in the centre. Some rebuilding has began, but rural areas will take longer to recover than the cities. Obvious exits: East leads to Sunny Valley. Scorponok collapses down into his terrifying scorpion mode! Elita One has arrived. Rumble has arrived. Avalanche has arrived. Runamuck has arrived. Velum has arrived. Rewind has arrived. Fortress Maximus has arrived. Fortress Maximus' current form begins to reconfigure itself, shrinking in size, and he eventually emerges in his robotic form. Falling foward, Avalanche reverts to his tiger mode. PREVIOUSLY ON THE TRANSFORMERS The K'Gardian fleet hangs in the sky over Nebulos, blasting its surface with lasers! "We shall avenge the Coalition of the Brave by punishing Lord Zarak! Die Nebulos, die!" Cut to Fortress Maximus and Scorponok shooting back at the K'Gardian Fleet. "I'm not letting Zarak's mistakes bring further suffering to this world!" Maximus vows. "Oh, shut up!" Scorponok snaps. They beat the fleet, then Zarak and Galen are seen shaking hands. "So it is agreed that we will contribute to the defense of this world until it can stand on its own again!" Zarak says. "For as long as you can keep your word, Zarak!" Galen replies. *It may not have happened exactly like that. NOW A patrol of Decepticon gumbies trudges through a valley, approaching the site where another Decepticon patrol was reported missing! "Man, this truce sucks!" gripes a gumby. "I don't even like this planet, and here we are, sharing it with a bunch of Autobots we can't shoot! This sucks!" "Dude, keep it down, Scorponok's RIGHT THERE," says another gumby, thumbing over his shoulder at the scuttling Scorpion following behind them at a distance. "Yeah, well, I'm sick of Scorponok's screw-ups! I say HAIL GAL--" KZOW! An electric blast hits the griping gumby square in the back and sends him to the ground in a smoking heap. "I will tolerate no insolence from ANY of you!" Scorponok booms. "I do not enjoy all the particulars of our deal with Maximus, but we still have a deal with him... for now! We are going to investigate why this patrol lost contact with command, then we will return to base, PREFERABLY without making utter fools of ourselves!" He scuttles over the gumby he just blasted. "Oh, and by the way, on our way back--if that one survives, repair him. If not, recycle him." Climbing up into her large exo suit, Velum straps in, fires it up, and is ready to fight Following the Gumbies and Scorponok, Avalanche pads along. The massive tiger would be quite the useful asset, as his highly tuned senses would be able to locate clues that others might have missed. The Decepticon looks about the valley, and snorts a bit. "Making deals with Autobots is being a sign of weakness." Avalanche blurts out. "They are being lucky I didnt have a say, or they would have all been dealt with." The beast then continues along, wanting to keep up with the group. Scorponok! He tolerates no insolence! None shall be irreverant before him! This is why Runamuck is /behind/ him. Per the ususal, the battlecharger has absolutely zero sense of what the heck is going on. One moment he was stationed... somewhere... next, he's being kicked out of his bunk by someone whose suffix may have been '-wave', or possibly '-on'. He's not sure. Now, he's walking behind (and occasionally around) a massive metallic arachnid with an alien for a head. "When did things get so complicated?" He asks nobody in particular, "I remember when it was exciting when someone turned into like... three things. Now, if you're not stuffing an alien in you're brain, you're wearing one like a suit, or sticking an atomic ractor up their poop-chute and shooting them like a gun..." The battlecharger shrugs, more or less to himself, before finally rasing his voice, "Remind me what we're doin' here again, guys? I forgot to care about remembering to pay attention. More importantly, why is there no shooting? I miss the shooting." "Hey, Mech, when'd you get back??" Rumble asks. Suddenly, he's *right there* beside Runamuck, grinning cheerfully as he flies along to keep up. "We're prolly here to bring the pain at some point. Oh, an' find a missing patrol. I think the missin' patrol thing is a l'il more important than bringin' the pain, at least for now." Fortress Maximus looks up from the scanner held in his hand as the sound of an electrical discharge echoes from the valley, "Looks like I won't need this scanner to let me know we're on the right track to find those Decepticons." He tucks the scanner into a storage compartment around his waist and looks to the other Autobots, "Sounds like Scorponok might be with them. Remember the truce is still in effect, we're just here to see what the Decepticons are really up to." Maximus then continues moving forward, he rubs the bottom of his chin with his left hand, "I have my suspicions on our intelligence reports of Decepticons going missing. It's an unlikely story, there's nothing on Nebulos that could possibly abduct a group of Decepticons." Tsk tsk, Maximus, why so distrustful? "So we're here to figure out exactly what the Decepticons are really up to, so be sure to stay low and try to avoid getting their attention." "Knowing you Cons, they probably skipped out and elft the planet." Velum scoffs from in the cockpit of her exo while walking alongside the others, rifle in hand as always. Wait, why is Velum with Decepticons? Well, a few reasons. One, as per the agreement they would have mixed patrols. And two, she wants to keep an eye on Scorponok now that he's back. In fact the scorpion gets a bit of a jeer from her, though the cheeky smirk is missed. "I'm surprised you haven't thanked me yet for rescueing your sorry ass, Scorponok." She's actually surprised she did that too, but she wasn't about to let Silas take control of them, not when she aims to arrest them herself. As for the surrounding Cons, Velum just snorts. "I'm also surprised your little lackies decided to come here too. I figured it'd just be the *Masters." Not that they're much better since they're pretty much 'punch on sight'. Rewind follows along near Fort Max. As always, he has his helmet-mounted video camera on and recording. He's here to record things as they happen- as the archivist, it's his job to gain an accurate record of what really goes on during these patrols. For History's sake, if nothing else. He looks waaaaay up at the huge Bot. "Got it, Max. And I'm here to record what they're really up to, and give you any data you may need." Giant Scorpion <'Scorponok'> grumbles to himself. His old Hellbender crew was a bunch of maniacs but, looking back, they were relatively easy to manage by comparison. "Zarak would call you short-sighted, were he here, Avalanche," Scorponok growls with a sharp CLACK of his claw. "This world has surprised us before. It just needs the Decepticons to break it out of its peace-loving mindset so that we can turn it into a proper fortress world for OUR cause." He appears to have no qualms about saying so with Velum right there. "And thank you for paying attention, Rumble, that is indeed what we are doing here! A pity that Battlechargers apparently don't include AUDIAL SENSORS for hearing such details!" he says loudly enough to damage audial sensors. "And as for you, VELUM," Scorponok growls, "Do not test my patience too much! Too many choice remarks from you, and I may lose my temper and give an irrational order to my men--like telling them they can use you for target practice! And don't worry about MY men--" The *masters, that is. "--they're all QUITE busy." No doubt worming their way back into Nebulan society. It's the Decepticon version of wee-man! Runamuck looks over at the sound. Rumble the tape is something he understands. "Rumble. Rumblerino. Rumblestiltskin... Been busy." A lie. "Passed up like, five promotions." Bigger lie. "They wanted to make me a six-changer doublespy power/head/targetmaster pretender that gains power from being kissed by underage humans." Biggest lie, but you know that's someone's weird Mary Sue fantasy. He mulls over the explanation for the outing given by Rumble. Mental gears turn, ancient, million year old circuitry fizzles and hisses. Finally, the arcane machinery that gives Runamuck his very soul belches out his disposition on the situation: Runamuck feigns understanding and/or interest. "Uh, yeah, sure. Right. So like... GAH!" Scorponok's bellowing causes Runamuck to wince slightly, an effect muted by the fact that he really doesn't have a face. "Jeez. Okay, dad. Worst. Road trip. Ever. " Avalanche doesn't really listen to the giant Scorpion at the moment, as he doesn't really care WHAT he has to say. Not at this particular moment. Avalanche remember when Scorponok ordered Snapdragon to attack him, so he's still a bit sore about that small detail. "Short sighted?" Avalanche finally replies. "It wouldn't be..." He says, shifting his scarlet gaze towards the Autobots. "If we just simply destroyed them. We would realize our goals faster, than concocting these silly machinations." "You? Losing your temper? How unheard of." Velum rolls her eyes, but stows the remarks after that. "But I've no intention of fighting you, just as the agreement states. I'm just here to make sure you do the same." Attention shifts to Runamuck and Rumble in particular as they prattle on, something that grates her nerves a little and has her addressing Scorp and Avalanche. "Do they always talk this much? They're worse than new recruits." One wonders how the Decepticon Empire has lasted this long. "Thanks, Rewind. I'm glad Blaster was able to attach you to this mission." Maximus responds back to Rewind before jumping over a small gap ahead of him. They travel for a while longer, but eventually Maxius points ahead and says, "There they are." Just further ahead is the gathered Decepticons and Velum. He looks back to Rewind, "Hmm, looks alright so far." Maximus then looks down to Rewind, "Maybe this is a normal search and rescue mission after all." The Headmaster reluctantly concedes to the Tape bot, before looking back at the group ahead. Rumble is really pleased Runamuck's around, because the tiny terror happens to think he's pretty awesome and they work together well. Blast Off probably wouldn't think that a mech like Runamuck has any class, and Blast Off would probably be absolutely correct -- although Rumble doesn't much care because he enjoys the guy's attitude problem. "Ahahah, yeah, pay attention," he chides Runamuck in amusement. Rewind looks up. "Yes, me too! And yeah, that's what we're here to find out. Whatever happens, the camera doesn't lie." Well... actually, it CAN... but Rewind tries to record history as *honestly* as possible. He has to really scramble to keep up with the much larger 'Bot, but manages somehow. As they get closer, he waves over towards Velum, if she happens to look his way and see him. And...oh look... there's Rumble. ...Yay. (/sarcasm) Airlift has arrived. Giant Scorpion <'Scorponok'> doesn't remember giving that order to attack Avalanche, possibly because he gives such orders on a constant basis. "Destruction will come later, Avalanche. Have patience! I've waited millions of years to destroy Maximus, you can wait one or two at the least! And... hm, Autobots, you say? That snout of yours has picked them up, has it?" The scorpion keeps his gaze fixed forward. "Well, they can *follow* if they like--maybe they can send me a damn Nebulan who isn't so blasted mouthy! Speaking of which, Velum, I would GREATLY appreciate it if you stopped antagonizing my soldiers!" Soon, however, they leave the valley and they can see the smouldering remains of a ruined town. The scorpion stops. "Dammit, I told the troops not to do any recreational ravaging!" Yes, that's a legit hobby for a Decepticon. "Hnh. This village... it had been destroyed during the previous Decepticon occupation, rebuilt afterwards, and now here it is, destroyed again. Zarak would pretend to cry for a moment if he was here, then worry about the political ramifications." His vocalizer rumbles in annoyance, then he yells, "DECEPTICON PATROL X-RAY! Come forward to answer for your disobedience!" No one emerges from the smoking ruins, and Scorponok growls, pivoting a bit towards the other Decepticons. "Runumuck, Rumble, get in there and find out why they aren't responding! For their sake, they'd better be dead! Velum, you stand *there and be quiet.*" "Buddy," Runamuck responds, "I'm so broke I can't afford to pay attention. At least when Megatron was around, you could just rat on someone for extra energon. He was trustworthy like that. Nowadays, you have to pay for stuff instead of tattling that Thrust sleeps with an Arcee body pillow." Runamuck looks around, bored as he speaks. When you transform in .5 seconds, you find that life is an endless assortment of distractions. As a result, even when told to pay attention in jet, his natural response is to find some way of making it his own. In a sense, Runamuck is the embodiment of why humanity has not found a cure for cancer: for every one 1% of people that represents applied creative genius, the other 99% are online, making lolcats. Runamuck is the 99. So it's probably not surprising when his bored looking around catches sight of Giant Robo, er, Fortress Maximus, "stealthily" "hiding" on the edge of a cliff. Runamuck knocks on the top of Rumble's head with a knuckle to get his attention, and then suddenly turns, cupping his hands uselessly over his faceplate. "HEY AUTOBOTS! NEXT TIME YOU WANT TO SNEAK AROUND, YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY A STEALTHIER APPROACH THAN BRINGING FORTRESS MAXIMUS, LIKE PLAYING THE SOUNDS OF A QUINTESSON GIVING BIRTH, FOR EXAMPLE!" Just then, Scorponok bellows his orders, and Runamuck snaps into action. His weapon materializes in his hand as he leaps forward towards the wreckage like a kid at fat camp after a candy bar. "Olly olly oxen free!" Rumble looks over in the direction where Runamuck points, and makes an extremely crude and juvenile universal hand gesture. Rewind will probably need to edit that out of his footage. Once he gets the marching orders from Scorponok, he's flying a beeline down into the valley to scan the village. "You got it, boss," he answers Scorp as he departs. Antagonizing? Velum isn't even doing anything! But she doesn't complain and just goes along with the rest, though the mention of others has her glancing back over her shoulder to spy the massive Fort Max possibly attempting stealth in the background. Rewind is noted too, if only because she spies a little red light around Max's big feet. Anyway, the sooner they find these other Cons, the better. Only.. it may no be that simple anymore when they stumble upon the village. "What the hell..?" The Nebulan woman frowns hard and steps forward, rifle gripped tight, but Scorponok's order gives her pause. "I don't take orders from you." She bites. "..But fine. That just gives me time to shoot if I need to." With that said, Velum raises her rifle and scopes the surrounding area, making sure they were alone out here. There's a dark presence ahead, a palpable sense of evil and malice that seems ever to grow as the forward team approaches the village. Only of a sudden, the sense seems to move right behind Rumble. As the little tape bot is moving towards the village, a hand snaps out of the darkness behind an outcropping of rock, catching the little tape that could by the leg and hauling it backwards. There's a flash of crackling purple energy and a dark shadow cast across little Rumble's form as something moves before him, wings spread out wide and optics glowing a dangerous reddish hue... Then the wings settle back a bit and the optics seem to soften to a purple color, a rasping voice emitting a quiet warning. "Turn back Rumble.. The darkness ahead is beyond one such as you.." Airlift warns ominously, hands gripping the shaft of his scythe, "only death awaits those who travel to yon village..death and sorrow.." Runamuck's voice echoes through the valley, and sure enough it reaches Fortress Maximus with crystal clarity. The Headmaster commander slaps the side of his right knee in frustration, and speaks to Rewind in a tone that carries a hint of embarrassment, "Sorry." He extends a hand out towards the Tape bot, offering him a ride down the cliffside along with him, "Looks like we're getting a front row seat to what shenanigans the Decepticons are on about after all." Whether or not Rewind takes the offer, Maximus does eventually find himself down below in the valley as well, and eventually he joins the gathered Decepticons and Velum. His optics goes wide as he witness the destruction that has befallen the rural village in front of him. It takes a moment for the Headmaster commander to gather his composure again before saying to Scorponok, "I had suspected some sort of foul play earlier from you, but under the circumstances even this would be out of character for you, Scorponok." Maximus' tone leaves a hint of uncertainty, betraying some lingering doubt over what he just said. Rumble is flying right along one moment, then the next moment he's simply plucked right out of the air by the Reaverbot. "Ghhkkk---" He stares in surprise at Airlift, then quickly remembers: this scouting business is something he was *ordered* to do by a Boss-type person. He takes that sort of thing very seriously, and this is probably the reason why he's been around as long as he has. "Airlift, lemme go," he pleads. "I ain't got a choice. If it's fulla ghosts an' death an' sorrow, it's just the chance I gotta take. I got *orders* to go down there an' look!" Rewind films Scorponok bossing everyone around, then zooms in on Runamuck, making sure to get all that glorious stupidity on camera for the posterity... and turning to focus on Rumble- Oh slag no, you didn't! *Sigh* Ah well... Rewind's got those little fuzzy gray dots of obscurity (and the five-second delays when filming live) installed. You tend to need them when filming Cons- or Autobots like Whirl and Sunstreaker.... The tape-bot then looks up to Fort Max and chuckles. "Heh, no, don't worry about it. I know what it's like to feel a little... awkward because of my size, believe me... it's just the OTHER end of the scale, in my case!" He chuckles again, then accepts Fort Max's offer, hopping on for a ride. He's also sure to video that interesting little encounter between Airlift and Rumble. Ooo, he may want to play that scene over and over..... Giant Scorpion <'Scorponok'> sighs. He had likely been hoping to let the Autobots continue to believe he had the advantage and could continue to monitor them unnoticed, but Runamuck blew that to hell. Oh well--maybe it's just as well, seeing how he never gets to chat with Maximus on account of usually being in the middle of trying to kill him. "MAXIMUS. Why don't you join us and keep this shrew of yours in check?" he bellows, then glances at her, annoyed. "She nearly fell down a flight of stairs in the grand tradition of troublesome Nebulan women, heheheh!" His vocalizer rumbles as he turns back to the devastation. "You are correct. I did not do this. I left explicit orders for the men not to shoot the damn planet up, and routinely beat some of them to keep the fear of me in them." There's quite a bit of lingering smoke so he's not entirely sure what's going on with Runamuck and Rumble. "If they got themselves killed as well I will be very displeased! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG?!" Airlift is damn lucky Velum didn't just blow his brains out, because the the moment she sees Rumble being dragged away she trains her gun on him. Thankfully she spies the Decepticon emblem once he reveals himself and sighs, lowering her gun. Can you blame her though? Look at the guy! "Max, Rewind, glad you guys could make it." She actually sounds pleasant for once when looking to the two Autobots, but that quickly turns back to her usual anger when Scoronok opens his big mouth. "/Asshole/." She nearly spits at him, glowering from inside her suit. "You're lucky we have this agreement." But at the Decepticon's exasperation about the others, Velum snorts and shoulders her rifle. "You sent the two most incompetent looking people here out to search. You expect immediate results?" She just shakes her head and heads out into the village despite previous orders. Time to get things done. There's a couple of words that Runamuck doesn't "get", not because he's stupid, but because his desire to see awesome fires and explosions overrides his common sense. Those words, in no real order, are "dark presence", "palpable sense of evil", and "malice." "And really, if pressed he probably doesn't really get the concept behind "beyond", really. But that's probably because of those special energon goodies that Runabout makes that cause him to sit in a corner and giggle for 10 hours straight while contemplating why squinting hard doesn't allow him to see air molecules. But what he does see is Duo Maxwell's fever dream erupt out of an eldritch energy portal from thin air out the corner of his optics. "Holy frag! It's Unicron II!" shouts the Battlecharger, spinning to point his weapon at the being holding Rumble by the leg. He scrambles backwards to get some distance, take aim, make a shot Then promptly stomps hard on a transformer head lying around the village. With a titanic crash, the manic machine mashes into metal. It sounds like someone tossing a garbage can lid down a mountain of scrap. Runamuck tumbles feet over fender into scrap and bits. He stops after a second, then realizes he's neck deep in robot corpses. Bodies are littered everywhere - some in states of disrepair, others intact, but with horrible masks of pain and terror etched in their alloyed features for all of eternity. The place is a Geiger-esque mechanical graveyard of abominable horror. Trembling hands reach out to pick up the mangled torso, arm and head assembly of a Decepticon trooper, as Runamuck , eyes wide behind his visor is unable to speak for once. Then, after what seems to be an eternity, he staggers to his feet, corpse parts still in hand. His voice catches and then he finally emits a shout. "GUYS. GUYS. THIS IS SO FRAGGIN' METAL." There's a slight shake of Airlift's head and he simply lets Rumble fly on past if the little tape insists on doing so, not seeming to be particularly afraid himself of whatever it is that is in the village. Huge metal wings shift to fold around his form as he stands still, waiting in silence for what is to come..and then the screaming begins. He doesn't turn back towards the others. He doesn't seem to need to..as he quietly says, "you were warned.." to no one in particular. Once released, Rumble flies quickly down to the carnage in order to survey it. He's rather impressed at the scope and the magnitude of the village's utter destruction, but his sheer bravado gives him the resolve to examine everything. "<< Looks like a total wipeout. I ain't seein' any survivors down here, >>" he reports back to Scorponok dutifully. Fortress Maximus looks over to Velum as she greets him and Rewind, "Wouldn't have missed it." Scorponok then addresses him and his passing remarks about Velum makes the Headmaster commander narrow his optics but avoids commenting any further. It's already a rare feat that the two aren't clashing already after being in proximity with each other for over two minutes. Better to bite his 'tongue' than escalating the tense situation due to poorly chosen words. He crosses his arms as he surveys the scene in front of him, "From the looks of it, your method of keeping your soldiers in line might not have stuck on as well as you thought it has." The sound of clanking metal catches Maximus' attention, and Runamuck's shouting at least reassures him that the Decepticons sent ahead is still unharmed. Soon afterwards Rumble also lands down, "Well, at least it seems safe to say that there's no hostiles remaining here in this area." As the Casseticon makes his report, Maximus interjects, "Total wipe out? The villagers... are all dead? This is gruesomely thorough. What of the Decepticon patrol that you are trying to locate? Is there any signs of them being here?" Rewind waves to Velum, who sees him this time. "Yes... you okay?" Then he catches sight of all the corpses. Woah. The tapebot stops, surprised... and then sets to work. He's got a job to do, after all. The camera zooms off to a wide pan of the village, then zooms in to focus on one of the ghastly heads. He starts to head into the village, camera recording this all. He stops to look at Rumble and give him a tape to tape glare... then keeps stepping through the carnage- which may be difficult, given his size. "...Yeah, you better keep walkin'...ya NERD," Rumble mouths off at Rewind. However, instead of immediately flying over and seizing the Autobot's camera to use as a melee weapon against the archivist like he wants to, he stalks off, peering beneath a few of the piles. "<< OK, looks like...robots, mostly...but wait. Wait, somethin's rotten over here. Yeah, there's Nebulans here, too. Both. Just piles of dead mechs an' dead Nebulans. Don't look like no one got spared, >>" he tightbeams to Scorponok. "I didn't expect immediate results--I just expected that they were reasonably expendable yet had a fair chance of escaping whatever did this, if it's still here!" Scorponok replies to Velum. He scuttles closer to the village as he hears Runamuck call out to him... and Rumble's report of no survivors. Spying the pile of bodies, he approaches, easily hefting one badly damaged body up in his oversized claws to look it over. "This *was* the patrol. It seems some of them were shot, but these others..." He drops it, perhaps accidentally, on Runamuck's foot. "No signs of damage! Airlift, inspect the bodies and tell me what killed them! Runamuck... engh, a situation's arisen in Koraja. Go to the capital building, retrieve Lord Zarak, and bring him to me. If he tells you not to drag him back here, ignore him and do it anyway! I'll deal with his griping later." Scorponok is quite aware of what he's subjecting Zarak to. "Hngh. Why take so much time just to kill the Nebulans, too?" Scorponok rumbles? So much for getting things done. Looks like Runamuck beats them all to it, and it's a damn impressive find. Moving past Airlift, who gets a wary look, Velum steps up the pile of Decepticon corpses and bends over to pick up a severed limb. Inspecting it a moment, the Nebulan 'hmms' and drops it back into the pile. "Whatever, or whoever, did this seemed tidy enough to pile them up. You don't think the villagers would be able to do this.. would you?" Rewind's question gets a nod, but Velum can't help but frown at Max's suggestion and continues sifting, which eventually produces the body of a Nebulan man. "...Looks like it, Max. Whatever did this didn't seem to care who was here. ..K'Gardian's maybe?" Though how they'd be able to slip past security is beyond her. What? But but what of metal-ness, Scorponok? Runamuck frowns, an effect one again ruined by the fact that his mouth is not visible, if not nonexistent. He shakes the dead body clump still in his hand, and emotes his consternation the best he can. "What? But what of the metal-ness?" He sighs heavily, an impressive feat for a being that thinks breathing is a funny habit. Shoulder slumped, he begins walking away, the dulcet tones of the song commonly known as the 'Sad Hulk' walk playing over his radio. He trudges by Rewind, and then a thought catches him. Without warning, he is immediately looming in front of Rewind, filling up his entire camera feed with his big white face. "Oh Primus! They killed everyone! Everyone! The Cybertronity! Modok here was fifty years from retirement! Fifty! What will we tell his family?" Runabout shoves the head of an unfortunate Decepticon with a hole in his forehead large enough to fit a Nebulan in - a fact that becomes clear because the second Runamuck stuffs the cranium into his backpack storage, a Nebulan body falls out. "Ew. Gross. Anyway, how's that for something to go in the highlight reel?" asks the irreverent Decepticon as he pantomimes a phone with his hand at his head. "Call me, bubbulah, we'll do lunch." And with that, Runamuck is a car, bolting away before Scorponok can curse him out more... or not. Perhaps the scorpion wants nothing more than to torment Zarak with the cracked Con. There's a moment of silence after the order is issued, before Airlift finally takes slow movement. His wings unfold and he moves towards the mounds of bodies.. Lowering down to one knee he keeps his scythe out and active, the eerie purple flicker casting everything he does in an unsettling vista. His inspection is none too respectful either as he looks the corpse over and then simply rips it open with one sharp taloned hand, examining the internals. He's silent for several moments before he slices the head off of the corpse and draws it up for examination. "Nnnnnhhhh..." is his only commentary before he moves on to another corpse. Standing over this one he gazes down at the cavity in it's chest, blown outward by some inexplicable force. He stoops low and tears the jaw off of the corpse without regard, picking something from the ruined orifice. As he walks back towards Scorponok he says, "They appear, Scorponok, to have died of terror..." he announces quietly, voice that nails-on-chalkboard rasp as he holds out the item he recovered. "One's lasercore was overloaded..the others, a device was fired into them which overloaded their pain receptors to such an extent that they would have expired in a single moment of horrifying agony which..likely..seemed to last for centuries to them. Even if any of the laser cores were recoverable, they likely suffered such trauma that bringing them online ever again would be pointless..their personalities would have been destroyed by the agonies inflicted upon them.." This..from a professional torturer. "As for the final..his core exploded from within..a message was left.." he says quietly, holding it out and pressing play. Fortress Maximus initially follows alongside Scorponok, he frowns as his arch-nemesis picks up the corpse of a Decepticon. His theory of the Decepticon patrols doing something nefarious is getting weaker with each evidence that turns up. It's time for another theory... except he can't think of another. "Looks like a dead end." He looks around, his face contorts to a grimace as his finally spots Nebulan corpses as well in the remanent of the destroyed village, "We need to get to the bottom of this, there's no telling if other Nebulan villages will fall under prey. It might also be safe to assume that even Cybertronians are vulnerable to what happened here." Maximus begins walking his way over to Rewind, "Rewind, med-tech will need as much data as we can gather right now. Make sure to have all the Cybertronian and Nebulan corpses filmed and scanned. Ditto for the all this damage marks around the buildings and the ground. The more you can gather, the more information we can piece together." He then goes over to Velum, "It's a possibility, but a slim one. They're not in the shape to mount another attack, not to mention the joint patrols in space. It just doesn't make sense. Time is not on our side here, this mystery must be solved quickly lest we risk more settlements being attacked." Rewind steps back in surprise as Runamuck is suddenly looming in front of him, but his camera never stops recording and he gets all the footage. All of it. Well, certainly no one will be complaining that this footage is DULL. He does turn to look back at Rumble, though. "You ever hear of the Revenge of the Nerds, Rumble? Who knows... someday maybe there'll be a SEQUEL." Rewind listens to Fort Max as he walks up and nods. "Gotcha. I'll..." The little tape-bot looks out at the vast, vast scene of carnage strecthing all around. "..uh, get right on it." Oboy. Welp, time to get to work, then. He hurries off to begin the grim archiving. Rewind yells to Rumble, "And by that I mean a sequel TO the sequels!" ...Just to be clear here. Giant Scorpion <'Scorponok'> replies to Velum again, to his dismay, "Nh. No, impossible. Nebulan military technology is improving, yes, but these simple villagers performing such a feat? No. It cannot be done, and besides, if they planned this in advance, why not relocate their spawnlings beforehand?" Yes, there's dead kids here, too! "As for K'gardians... no, early warning sensors would have surely picked them up." Then Airlift relays his assessment of the causes of death for some of the victims, and Scorponok is silent, claws unmoving for once. And as the recorder plays, it says: "Attention, all Decepticons. Galvatron and Scorponok have been judged and found guilty of high treason against the Decepticon Empire, a crime punishable by a slow, painful death. All Decepticons are to immediately abandon their loyalties to these traitors at once, or suffer the fate of those who perished here." Scorponok says nothing as the message abruptly ends. "Uh, *yeah*. More like, I'll make a sequel of breakin' your faceplate. Cause I think I did that, last time!" Rumble hollers over to Rewind. "An' now you're makin' me wanna do it again..." The recorder plays its ominous message. "...The hell is goin' on?" Rumble murmurs, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Exosuit <'Velum'>'s mind is racing at the possibilities when standing back up, wondering just who would do this. But the answer arrives quickly enough when Airlift presents a recording left and plays it. What? It can't be! Cue a sudden spike in anger as the recording ends, Velum actually opening her cockpit and glaring accusingly at Scorponok. "You! Your damned faction did this, and all because of you!" She fumes, actually standing and grabbing a handhold to keep from falling out while jabbing a robotic finger at him. "I don't know what the hell you and Galvatron did to piss off your lackies, but I'll be damned if I let Nebulos get dragged into it!" Yep, she's mad. The reaver turns to Velum and growls ominously, "You may say what you wish of Scorponok, flesh creature, but dare not to speak of Lord Galvatron so! Your tongue is hardly worthy even to speak his name, much less to rant about his culpability in any affair on your pathetic planet..were it not for the Empire of Lord Galvatron this backwater would be nothing more than another decaying cesspool of stagnation and obscurity!" he turns to Scorponok then, "whoever this being is that dares to challenge Lord Galvatron's divine mandate to rule will die for his treachery!" Fortress Maximus nods apologetically at Rewind, feeling guilty about subjecting the Autobot to such a grim task, "Thanks, Rewind. Whoever did this will be brought to justice yet." He then turns his attention back to recorder as the audio playback begins playing. When the content of the message finish playing, Maximus shift his gaze over to Scorponok, "Nebulos is a very odd place for Decepticons to stage an internal power play for the throne." Maybe the whole joint protection of Nebulos wasn't the best idea after all. Sure it kept the alien invaders out, but Nebulos is now caught between two warring factions and all the treacherous intrigues that goes alongside with it. He extends a hand out at Velum, he attempts to speak calmly but the hints of agitation can be detected behind his restrained tone, "Easy now, Velum. No other villages will share this one's fate, not so long as I'm around to stop it. We're going to need more information though--" He looks over to the Decepticons, "--you mechs got any idea who is behind this now?" Maximus positions himself in between Velum and Airlift, as the latter confronts the former, "Let's save the hostility for this group of Decepticons, whoever they may be." Rewind puts his hands on his "hips" and retorts to Rumble, "Funny, I seem to remember you stumbling around and getting confused a lot..." Though when the message starts to play the tape-bot's hands drop down as he records the eerie voice. There's a small, "huh" from the tape... not happy or sad about it, just... well, that's interesting. He turns to nod at Fort Max. "Yes... and a careful recording of all the facts and data is the first step. So... I'm glad I'm here, actually." And he turns back to his task. "Yes...because obviously no Autobot would EVER fake a recording to incite infighting or discredit the Empire. It couldn't have been a MECH plot of course.. Yes, all messages left to be conveniently discovered by the first entities to investigate should certainly be taken at face value.." remarks Airlift with heavy sarcasm. "Scorponok, I advise asking Soundwave to examine this recording for evidence that might lay hidden in the audio, background noise may provide a clue to the origin.." @emit "I think we're gettin' framed, there ain't nothin' here to prove that it is what it looks like. This smells a lot like a set-up," Rumble grouses, making his way over to Airlift. "Yeah, there's gotta be a lot more investigatin' here. Soundwave can get plenty of information off that recordin'," he notes, his beef with Rewind all but forgotten for now due to the severity of the problem. Scaring Velum is pretty the last thing to ever happen, so it comes at no surprise to see her staring down Airlift with just as vicious a glare as she recieves. "If the 'Empire' hadn't have shown up here, my people wouldn't be dead thanks to all the trouble you've put us through, you HORRIBLE NEBULAN EXPLETIVE!" She's nearly grinding her teeth at this point, ready to start firing, but Fort Max intervenes in the nick of time and stands between them. With a wriled huff the woman stands down and sits back into her seat, not looking happy in the slightest. "No Autobot would slaughter innocent people" She snaps at Airlift again. Airlift mutters to himself, "... on... totally never happened." You say, "Yes, odd indeed," Scorponok rumbles, staring straight ahead. "As for who is doing this... no. I do not know." Which could be a lie? "It could be the work of MECH, attempting to avenge their leader... which would make this YOUR responsibility as well as mine, Velum." Silence. Then, after several moments, he says aloud, "Yes, Airlift and Rumble, we will take this recording to Soundwave. He will be able to ascertain more details that the perpetrators may not want to be known." The Scorpion rotates about towards Maximus. "We will not be able to... protect Nebulos any longer, Maximus. I have been receiving constant updates via radio by my 'partner'. Zarak's machinations have failed him, and his daughter Llyra has been voted off of the Council of Peers. And additionally, the Council has decreed that all Cybertronians are to leave the planet at once. So. So much for democracy! So much for your precious freedom, Maximus! This is what it gets you! BAH!" He slams a claw down with titanic force on the ground. Rumble nods as Scorponok addresses him, and he flies up to sit on Airlift's shoulder, finding it a better vantage point than the corpse-ridden ground. Exosuit <'Velum'> gruffs at Scorponok's assumption. It's a possability, so she'll definitely be looking into it once she gets back to Earth. Unfortunately it seems the Bots and Cons will be leaving as well, a fact that draws a grimace from her. "Llyra's been taken off the council?" Thank god, but still, the other news isn't so wonderful. "Hn, well I guess they feel they can handle things at this point. ..Max, if you need anything done I'll be staying here a few more days to help clean things up." She's not Cybertronian, so technically she doesn't have to leave. Well, until they tell her to. Airlift looks to Scorponok, a smirk on his face as he notes, "By technical definition..I am not Cybertronian..at least enough so that Swindle could win a case based upon it.. I can stick around a little while longer and see what I can discover of this situation. Seeing as I am capable of my own transportation, I will lurk about a few days and then withdraw once I have exhausted the possibilities of this planet.." he offers. Lord Galvatron has said the nebulon's are 'useful' therefor he shows concern for seeing things righted here. He reaches up to hand the recording to Rumble settled on his shoulder..he doesn't seem at all to mind the presence of a tape there, rather used to being a perch. The scorpion nods at Airlift, something of an odd gesture for a scorpion, but hey. "It's unlikely the Nebulans will care that much about the difference, but very well. You may use the tapes and other intel agents to investigate, as well. However, ensure that you do not use so much of your fuel that you cannot escape the atmosphere! Recall that all the local fuel sources have been contaminated and we will not be able to resupply you with fresh energon very easily!" His voice lowers. "And do be careful not to wind up like squad X-Ray..." Rumble takes the recording from Airlift and keeps it safe. How? Well, he's pretty fond of the 'five-fingered discount' method of obtaining goods, so he just places the recording with a few of his other ill-gotten goods for safekeeping. Fortress Maximus is genuinely in shock. It's kind of a doozy when you're thinking about how it might not have been a good idea to have formed a truce and keep a constant presence on Nebulos, and then a few minutes afterwards be told you're getting the boot out of there. Be careful what you wish for? It's just too abrupt. Too bad he doesn't have a giant claw of his own to slam into the ground in frustration. "Llyra has been... what?" Looks like Galen has unconsciously assumed control. "I can understand their enthusiasm in getting us all off the planet, but surely Zarak has made them aware of what happened to this village today." He looks around for a few seconds, letting the reality of the situation sink in before regaining composure, "Somehow I don't think what happened to this village will stop here, and this certainly feels beyond the scope of what Nebulans can handle on their own." He frowns and rubs his chin, "We can't exactly stay on this planet by force, even if we chose to. We'd succumb to the poison the moment we refuel, and there'd be unnecessary fighting if we were to go to and from the planet to refuel regularly. Not to mention inefficient." He looks to Velum, "The only personnel we have that can survive here are the Powermasters. As much as I want to abide by the Council of Peers' judgement, I don't think I can. Not when they might be steering themselves off a cliff. Velum, most of the Autobot Powermasters can't leave the planet on their own power. Do you think you can arrange shelter out of sight, somewhere where we can finish our investigations, make sure that everything IS safe, and then we'll evacuate as per the Council's wishes?" Rewind keeps recording the scene, trying to get a record of each poor psark who met their end here. Even if they are Decepticons... this was still a pretty rough way to go. He does pause to record whatever it is Rumble is doing... he'll catch him doing something that'll get him in trouble yet... then makes his way through more bodies. Exosuit <'Velum'> nods. "Already on it, just leave it to me." With that said she gives the Cons an unsure look before moving off several paces, getting on her radio to arrange some things. She's going to be making a lot of calls today.. "Oh, Zarak did tell them what happened here," Scorponok explains. "And the Council then immediately accused HIM of being the cause, suggesting that he set the whole thing up himself to justify our presence here! It would be plausible if we hadn't lost so many of our own men, and for no gain! Bah! You see, Maximus? Even for a politician, sometimes the only language they understand is violence!" Rewind goes home. Rewind has left. Decepticon Message: 2/53 Posted Author Beware of Renegades May 19 2014 Scorponok ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Scorponok appears onscreen, looking especially dour. "Decepticons, we had a patrol slaughtered on Nebulos today. Those who were killed in the attack were the lucky ones, as the others were apparently captured, then brutally tortured beyond even the abilities of the best interrogators currently in our employ can do. The identities of the perpetrators are not known at this time. However, they did leave behind an audio device, which contained a message stating they claim to have found Galvatron and myself guilty of treason, and that they would seek out any Decepticon who stays loyal to the current chain of command and deal with them in a similar fashion. "Contrary to what I suggested to the Autobots, I believe that this may have been the work of renegade Decepticons. The brutality on display could surely only be the work of our own kin--but once Soundwave analyzes the audio file sent to him, we will know that for sure. From now on, until these perpetrators are identified and neutralized, I want all patrols doubled in size. Any unidentified Decepticon claiming to be operating on behalf of the renegades is not to be engaged without authorization from the chain of command. "Unfortunately, we will have difficulty investigating further on this planet, since the Council of Peers has decided to overthrow Zarak's pretty little princess, Llyra, and expel all Cybertronians from the planet! Naturally, I'm in no mood to comply with this decree, particularly with such coincidental timing--we will work around it and identify who butchered our people regardless. As for our deal with Maximus to watch over the planet, consider it to be concluded. Any Autobots encountered there are fair game." He looks off to the side. "Hmmm, did I tell Maximus we were ending the deal? Oh, it slipped my mind! Either way, he'll figure it out soon enough, heheheh! Scorponok, OUT!" *blip* Autobot Message: 3/141 Posted Author Trouble Brewing Over Nebulos May 20 2014 Fortress Maximus ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <<< TEXT ONLY >>> The Council of Peers on Nebulos had recently removed Llyra of her authority and her position in the government. Their subsequent act was to nullify the joint pact between Nebulos, the Autobots, and Decepticons to patrol and keep their sector safe from further alien attacks. Officially, all Autobots are expected to evacuate from the planet. We can't follow the Council's wishes, not for the time being. The reason is because of this... Images and videos of a ruined rural village appears on the screen. Corpses of Nebulan villagers and Decepticons can be seen in the footages. Finally an audio clip can be heard at the end "Attention, all Decepticons. Galvatron and Scorponok have been judged and found guilty of high treason against the Decepticon Empire, a penalty punishable by a slow, painful death. All Decepticons are to immediately abandon their loyalties to these traitors at once, or suffer the fate of those who perished here." We have Rewind to thank for all these crucial data. Now we're completely in the dark as to who's responsible for this. This is why we need to stay around long enough to find out. If an entire village and a Decepticon squad can be wiped out like this, then it's highly doubtful that the Nebulan military will be able to handle this matter. Velum has taken steps to arrange for safehouses for our Autobot operatives to remain hidden on Nebulos until whoever did this is brought to justice. Unfortunately our operatives will be Powermasters for the time being. Nebulos is still poisonous to us who requires refueling. We'll no longer be able to arrange that with us being unwelcomed in the Nebulos system. We'll try to arrange for uncontaminated energon to be clandestinely off loaded onto to the planet once safe houses are arranged. In the meantime, stay low, keep a sharp optic out. Keep off of the Nebulan government's radar, we are not to engage them at any cost, escape is our only option for now. If Decepticons operatives encountered on Nebulos proves to be hostile, then permission is granted to defend yourself, but focus priority on keeping a low profile. We're here to solve a mystery, not fight a war. <<< TEXT ENDS >>>